More Info:

At stake in this election:

Description of government structure:

Assembly: South Korea has a unicameral National Assembly (Kukhoe) with 273 seats.

Description of electoral system:

The President is elected by plurality vote to serve a 5-year term.

The Prime Minister is appointed by the president with the approval of the parliament.

In the National Assembly (Kukhoe), 227 members are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies to serve 4-year terms and 46 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.***

*** In this election, the number of seats will be lowered from 299 to 273.

Main parties in the electoral race:

Party: The Grand National Party (GNP)
Leader: LEE Hoi Chang
Seats won in this election: 133
Seats won in last election: 139

Party: Millennium Democratic Party (MDP)
Leader: KIM Dae-jung
Seats won in this election: 115
Seats won in last election: 79

Party: United Liberal Democrats (ULD)
Leader: CHO Sun
Seats won in this election: 17
Seats won in last election: 50

Last Parliamentary election:

-Parliamentary elections last held: April 11, 1996.
-Seats decided in the last election: 299